The Concert Reader Reviews:

Tour Title: March Metal Meltdown

There are currently 2 Reader Reviews of this tour.
Average Rating: 3
Go to Judgment Committee Reviews of this tour

Submitted by Ganley (3/10/00-3/11/00, South Jersey Expo Center, NJ):
After a LOOOOONG stagnant period of not going to any shows, I made my way to Jersey. (Eternal hails to the warriors in Deceased and October 31 for gettin' my ass there!) Only being there the second day, I obviously don't have anything to say about the 10th, so without further ado, here's how the 11th went.
The first things that caught my attention were a) The alarmingly low attendance b) The stupidity of TWO stages(!) in ONE room and c) absolutley no place to escape the loudness to talk for a bit. The first band to see was the Cold Beyond (formerly known as Dead By Morning) who unfortunately fell victim to the shitty sound, yet savagely broke through with their intense brand of apocalyptic Black Metal. You could feel the rage! (thanks for the shout out, Sithicus!) Next I meandered over to check out the other rooms. Skinless was assaulting the crowd with their brutal Death Metal. Chaos Theory was an interesting standout, they're kinda hard to describe, but they were having a blast on stage! Gotta love a band like that. Origin were blasting the audience on the Relapse stage. Converge had a violent little pit, they remind me of a "toned down" version of The Dillinger Escape Plan (whatever that means). Next up was the moment many were waiting for: Deceased! I was perched up front and ready to go! Though the sound was (you guessed it!) pure mud, they got the crowd totally into the old style death thrash, they only played 5 songs and included Maiden's "Wrathchild!" They deserved WAY more time. After realizing the pain in my neck was going to be a problem I grabbed a bite to eat (eew!) In Extremo was a bizarre band, I think Bagpipes at a Metalfest is a wierd eclectic spice! Now began the time when I wanted to see EVERY FUCKING BAND that was playing from that point on.
Dying Fetus had an insane pit, which "Intentional Mansluaghter" helped fuel. That room had incredible sound, enough to give Mortician the best sound I've ever heard! Believe me or not, but I tell you, Mortician fucking killed! You could tell the songs apart(!), the vocals were just as brutal as they get, the drums pummeled and it was just pure rage! For that night, they were everything brutality is rolled into one band. Definitely a highlight. Angel Corpse obliterated next. Gifted with superb sound, they leveled that room. Playing a lot of stuff from the Inexorable, they controlled the crowd with an iron fist. Wolflust was a highlight. Immolation also gave a nice dose of brutality. Anvil killed! Loud as hell and really into it. Lips & co. barreled through a killer set! Virgin Steele wins the award for loudest band of the evening, playing to a nice sized crowd, they ruled (couldn't hear the keys, though)! Whiplash was awesome, though I only caught the last half of the set. Hate Eternal put on an impressive show. Nocturnus were stuck in the double room yet didn't have too bad of a sound. I all but missed Doro, I wandered in and thought "Great, just in time!" Wrong, she was getting off the stage. :( Witchery had a great crowd, but I didn't catch too much of their set. About this time we were about to leave but then we realized Holocaust was playing. All 30 witnessed the suprise of the night. An interesting addition was right after they played "Small Hours" (you know, the one Metallica covered.) They returned the favor and covered "Master of Puppets" in its entirety! They ruled! If you missed out on them, I feel bad for you! We left after that, having missed Testament and Immortal, though I heard I didn't miss much since, in grand "international headliner curse" tradition, they were plagued with shit sound and cut off after 5 songs.
Overall, I love to have all my senses completely overrun by metal, so with all the negativities on big fests like these (there are TONS of 'em), it's still worth every penny to go. It's hell if you're like me and like EVERY style of metal, the schedule conflicts are such a pain in the ass. HAIL METAL!!!!!

Submitted by Musashi (3/10/00-3/11/00, South Jersey Expo Center, NJ):
I really want to write a rave review of this Metalfest, but I can't. Putting cheap beer and metal in close proximity to each other seems like an infallible plan. However, there were times when I thought (although physically impossible) this Metalfest both sucks and blows. There were more awesome metal bands there than they knew what to do with...literally. Putting the best underground metal bands in the same room is a great idea; having them play side by side in the same room is a bad idea. I won't even address the Sentenced fiasco (they only got to play four songs). What the hell was Jack Koshick thinking? Seriously, Jack is a good guy. I had a couple of beers with him and he seemed honestly bummed about the way that some of the stuff turned out.
I think the first thing about a concert should be getting good bands and making them sound good. After the music is taken care of, the fans can excuse the bad food and other inconveniences of being locked indoors for the weekend.
As far as the bands go, I was impressed by almost all the bands I saw and heard, starting with Shadows Fall and ending with Immortal. In order to hear the bands properly, I had to get pretty close to the stage (and farther from the beer garden-- that created a conflict of interest).
In all honesty, it's hard to go to one of these shows and drink so much beer and see so many bands and then come home and write a review telling you how awesome each band was. I think the point is to go and drink a lot of beers and see a few bands that you already know and like and then find some new bands that you never heard of and become fans of those bands. I also think the point is to meet and hang with all the other cool metalheads. It's a big party and the whole metal community shows up for it.
I can't tell you how many songs Deceased played, but I thought they rocked. I'm a fan now. I can tell you how hot Doro was (for an old lady) even though I thought her show was pretty weak. Skinlab and Cephalic Carnage were awesome. Shadows Fall, Dillinger Escape Plan and Luddite Clone were big favorites too. I was all about S.O.D. and Testament. They definitely made it for me. I was really upset that I missed Vital Remains and Nocturnus. They are on my list of bands to see next time.
All in all, the March Metal Meltdown was and will continue to be an excellent event. Even though the conditions were sub-optimal, you couldn't help but have a good time. There was something for everyone. Lots of different types of metal were represented and I was exposed to a lot of good new music.
The fans rocked. Everyone I met was cool.
I can't wait for Milwaukee!

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